Primary care and health outcomes among older patients with diabetes.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to measure the relationship between days spent waiting for primary care and health outcomes among patients diagnosed with diabetes, especially among the elderly population. DATA SOURCE Secondary data from VA administrative databases and Medicare claims. STUDY DESIGN This is a retrospective observational study. Outcome variables include primary care utilization, mortality, heart attack, stroke, and ambulatory-care sensitive condition (ACSC) hospitalization. The main explanatory variable of interest is VA primary care wait time. Negative binomial models predict utilization and stacked logistic regression models predict the probability of experiencing each health outcome. Models are stratified by the presence of a selected health condition and age. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Longer wait times were predicted to decrease utilization between 2 and 4 percent. There was no significant relationship between wait times and health outcomes for the overall sample. In stratified analyses, longer waits were associated with undesirable outcomes for those over age 70 with one of the selected health conditions or in certain narrower 5-year age groups, but the overall pattern of results does not indicate a systematic and significant effect. CONCLUSIONS There was a modest effect of long wait times on primary care utilization but no robust effect of longer wait times on health outcomes. Waiting for care did not significantly compromise long-term health outcomes for veterans with diabetes.